Concentration
by ShadowofUndine
Summary: Yuugi and his other self are playing a game of Sock Concentration, but his other's being quite the distraction. -- Implied Puzzleshipping/YamiYuugi.


A/N: Hello, everyone. I haven't posted anything here for a very long time. If you're here for my Tales of Symphonia (ToS) stories, I apologize—I fear that I can no longer do Kratos's character justice. Anyway, in terms of this story, I had quite a bit of fun writing it. I hope everyone enjoys it. I rather like tease!Yami.

Oh, speaking of... I used the Japanese canon for this story: that means no 'Yami'. Name-wise, at least. They only use 'aibou' and 'mou hitori no boku' (generally, I stick with "his other [self]" for Yuugi, as it's shorter and less awkward in English). I won't do this in longer fics, should I write them. Thank you. – Shadow  
--------

"Your turn, aibou." The familiar voice of his other self purred against his mind, causing a not-unpleasant shiver to run through his body. There was most definitely not a slight heating of his cheeks. Definitely not.

"O- Okay, mou hitori no boku." Once again having control of the body, Yuugi took in the floor around him. They were playing Sock Concentration. It had all been Yuugi's idea--Duel Monsters wasn't the only game he liked. Unfortunately, though he supposed he should have known, he was no match for his other. Each time he'd look, several more pairs of socks were flipped over and Yuugi almost regretted his choice to play. He'd never remember enough of the sock patterns fast enough to get even a few pairs at this rate. It's like his other already _knew_ what was there.

He sighed in frustration at the wooden floor before him. He knew that up in the corner, close to his bed, there sat a Black Magician pattern. On the third row, second from the right, a heart. The fourth row, on the edge, sat a playing-card Jack pattern. Just placing pictures under the unturned socks was a lot easier than drawing on all of them. It made his mother less angry, too.

"All right! I choose this one"--he flipped over the Black Magician sock with fervor--"and..." he paused only momentarily, hoping his other's gamer's intuition had rubbed off on him, or something. "This one!" The black sock on the right side--third from the edge--flipped over as quickly as he could manage it. He just _knew_ this was the right one. It had to be!

The dreaded Trap Hole glared up at its master. "Not again..." Yuugi felt his morale deflate immediately. This was the third time he'd had to give his other an extra turn. The third time, in a _row_. What was with his luck today?

"Too bad, aibou." His other self had not even bothered to try to conceal the amusement in his voice.

"Ah!" He hurried to cover his turned-over socks. "Mou hitori no boku! Stop cheating!"

An amused chuckle floated through the mind link. "From what I know of this game, you're supposed to use your opponent's moves against them. I see no cheating from seeing what you chose, and where."

"But!" Yuugi yelled it a little louder than he meant to--he only hoped his mother was downstairs and wouldn't hear. Trying to explain why he was yelling at himself was an awkward situation he'd like to avoid having to do for a second time.

He turned his voice fully toward the mind link, and met his other in the empty twilight of their shared mind. "But you can read my mind! It's not fair!"

Yuugi pouted at the heavy smirk on his other's face. "Of course it's fair, aibou. I have no control over your manipulation of the mind link."

He had to force his much smaller form not to take a step back at how close his other had moved to stand in front of him. That intense look was rather intimidating. "That I am able to use it far better than you is only a tool I may use against my opponent to win the game."

Yuugi couldn't help the sudden wetness of his mouth, the involuntary swallow, or the insistent heat of his face. From that close, his other's every word had settled itself on his skin. It was very warm breath. And ticklish. Why did his other always have to stand so close?

"I... uh..." Yuugi's mind had totally blanked. He couldn't remember what he was going to say. His own thoughts paused themselves for a moment, as they'd come up empty. He couldn't even remember what they'd been talking about.

He did his best to kick mind into gear. What had it been? 'We were...' Nothing came up from the recesses of his memories. He cursed his terrible short-term memory, and he cursed his other's now extremely amused countenance for being so distracting. "Uh..."

"What's wrong, aibou?" Yuugi hoped that seeing his other moving _even _closer was only his imagination. The even warmer breath brushing his cheeks at those three small words told him it wasn't. Maybe. He couldn't really be sure anymore.

A light touch upon his shoulder broke Yuugi out of his daze. He blinked once and looked up at his other in confusion. "I'm- I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked you if there was anything wrong." The light hand upon his shoulder and the meaning of his words were belied by the smirk still gracing his lips, the amused glitter of his blood-red eyes, and the downright pleased tone in his voice. He was not concerned in the least.

Yuugi huffed at his other, despite any possibly-present better judgement. "I'm fine. Just go play your turn."

"Turns, aibou. Turns." If anything, his smirk widened. "And I'd be glad to." Without further warning, his other self disappeared from their meeting place, leaving a very odd sensation behind on Yuugi's shoulder--just as if the hand were still there, even though it clearly wasn't. He rolled his left shoulder absently to get rid of the strange feeling, although it didn't seem to be working as well as he'd hoped.

As if reading his mind--on second thought, it probably _was _from reading his mind--his other's voice permeated the never-ending azure twilight, '_Don't worry, aibou. I just left your shoulder a little company. You just wait there for me to win and then I'll come keep the rest of your company, too._'

Yuugi pointedly ignored the heat that flared in his cheeks, and huffed in the direction of the defenseless ground, as if it was the ground's fault his other was so mean. He _also_ ignored the sensation of this other's hand on his shoulder. His other wasn't fair.

'_Of course I'm fair. You just don't know how to play the game._'

His hands balled at his sides and he stared hard upward, knowing his other could see his glare. "This isn't a game!"

The invisible hand on his shoulder disappeared for the slightest of moments and Yuugi hoped his other had given up on him for the time being. It reappeared once again resting softly against the back of his neck, the surprise of the unexpected touch causing his breath to catch and a shiver to run its way through his body.

Unfortunately, the hand did not stop there. It brushed its fingers lightly along his neck, moving up to caress his cheek, and finished with the lightest brush of the thumb across his lips before disappearing entirely. That is, except for the tingle upon his bottom lip the touch had left behind. Yuugi tried his very, very hardest to ignore it.

'_On the contrary, _aibou_,_' the elongated word was accompanied by the breath of his invisible other's voice dancing on the bridge of his nose, '_this is the best game of all._'


End file.
